1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light-weight thin-film photovoltaic cells, methods for making cells, modules made from cells, and methods for making modules from cells. The invention teaches a manner in which individual cells may be bonded to one another, eliminating the need for an additional support substrate and interconnecting leads, thus reducing the overall weight and thickness of individual cells and modules of cells.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art method of producing thin-film photovoltaic cell devices includes bonding individual cells onto a load-bearing substrate sheet such as Kapton®. This load bearing substrate, together with the leads necessary to electrically connect individual cells, contributes to the overall weight of the device. This additional weight and thickness is particularly undesirable in space applications.
Currently, two barriers to implementing thin-film photovoltaic cell devices in space applications are difficulty obtaining large areas of photovoltaic material deposited on a light-weight substrate and difficulty forming light-weight space-survivable interconnects between individual cells in an array.